Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

  • admissions.blog

National Merit® ‘Commended Student’ cutoff up by 2 points

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

The National Merit® Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has confirmed that the national cutoff score for the ‘Commended Student’ designation will be 211 for the class of 2018—or 2 points higher than the cutoff for the class of 2017. While the higher cut score isn’t particularly predictive of state-by-state ‘Semifinalist’ cutoffs (except possibly at the lowest levels), it does reinforce speculation that continued upward pressure on PSAT/NMSQT® scores may result in higher score requirements for students hoping to earn National Merit Scholarships in some states.

“A simple response to a 2-point increase in the Commended Student cutoff would be to assume a 2-point increase in state Semifinalist cutoffs. It turns out that things are far from simple,” writes Art Sawyer in the Compass Education Group blog. “Based on our research, we are predicting that the most common state cutoff changes will be +0, +1, and +2. We expect that a small number of cutoffs may drop a point or go up by 3 points.”

And between changes in test scoring eliminating the guessing penalty and changes in the scale (from 20-80 to 160-760), the use of data from years prior to 2016 make estimates for state-by-state cutoffs a little complicated.

In addition, the scoring changes together with a new computation for the PSAT/NMSQT “Selection Index” (math, writing/language and reading on a scale of 8 to 38 multiplied by two) also put into play the possibility that two students from the same state with identical Total PSAT/NMSQT scores from the October test could have very different outcomes—one commended (or semifinalist) and one not.

According to the NMSC website, of 1.6 million NMS entrants, roughly 50,000 with the highest Selection Index (SI) scores qualify for recognition in the scholarship program. Note that only students taking the PSAT/NMSQT in the 11th grade qualify.

About 34,000 or more than two-thirds of the high scoring juniors receive Letters of Commendation. These students are named on the basis of a “nationally applied” SI score which varies from year-to-year and is typically below the level required for participants to be named semifinalists in most states. For the class of 2017, the cutoff score was 209.  In 2016, the last year to use the “old” PSAT, the cutoff score was 202. In 2015, it was 201 and in 2014, it was 203.

The increase in this year’s cutoff for commended status is in line with generally inflated PSAT scores, which may have been encouraging to students initially hoping to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. Unfortunately, life isn’t always so straightforward and the NMS competition is anything but straightforward. State-by-state semifinalist cutoffs are predictable within a range. But only after the NMSC applies a little politics to its formula and the announcement is made in September will there be any certainty as to who qualifies as a semifinalist. To earn the title of “finalist,” these students will have to jump through an additional series of largely bureaucratic administrative hoops.

To facilitate the conversation about the class of 2018, however, Compass Education Group has come up with a chart predicting “estimated ranges” (with 1330 comments) for the state-by-state semifinalist cutoff.  The ranges “reflect the variability of year-to-year changes within a state” and are based on research conducted by the test wizards at Compass Prep. While interesting, the ranges and “most likely” scores are by no means guaranteed.

At this point, it’s not worth spending a whole lot of time worrying about PSAT/NMSQT® results. They are predictive of very little beyond possible achievement on the SAT. Colleges will never see these scores, and how the NMSC determines state-by-state semifinalist cutoffs is entirely out of anyone’s control.

Subscribe to our mailing list

Making the most of the summer before senior year

Top 10 Cheap Summer Extracurricular Activities for High School Students

You CAN apply Restrictive Early Action and Early Action under the right conditions

UNC and a tale of one – make that four – acceptance rates

Second Biggest Lie College Admissions Officers Tell

Best Summer Programs in Europe for High School Students

Rolling Admission vs. Regular Decision

How to Get Accepted to Your Dream College of Choice

Trending Posts

WashU Receives Fewer Applications, Releases Regular Decisions March 23

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Releases Admissions Decisions

Dear 10th Grader: Don’t Become An Ivy League Reject!

Another Reason Why Your Common Application Essay is So Bad

Ten Unique and Memorable College Acceptance Gifts for All Personality Types

Common App Essay: Size Does Matter

The Ultimate Virtual College Admissions Library – 2022 Edition

University of Washington Releases Admissions Decisions

Write for Us | Sponsored Posts
All content © 2022 | Admissions.Blog
Terms of Service | +1 410-526-2558

Search Posts By Topic

  • 3 Year Degree (2)
  • Accommodations (2)
  • Admissions Policies (82)
  • Admissions Statistics (69)
  • Advice & Analysis (310)
  • Alabama (1)
  • Amherst (2)
  • AP (4)
  • Applications (62)
  • Arizona (4)
  • ASU (1)
  • Austin College (1)
  • Baylor (1)
  • Berry College (1)
  • Boston University (3)
  • Brown (3)
  • Bryn Mawr (1)
  • BYU (1)
  • Caltech (1)
  • Canada (2)
  • Career and Technical Education (7)
  • Case Western (3)
  • China (1)
  • CMC (1)
  • Coalition (13)
  • Colby (1)
  • College Counselor (18)
  • College Fairs (5)
  • College Life (31)
  • College List (33)
  • College List Deathmatch (4)
  • College Visit (22)
  • Columbia (5)
  • Common Application (35)
  • Community Colleges (4)
  • Cornell (3)
  • COVID-19 (8)
  • CSU (1)
  • CU Boulder (1)
  • Dartmouth (3)
  • Davidson (1)
  • Demonstrated Interest (17)
  • DePaul (1)
  • Dickinson (1)
  • Direct Admissions (1)
  • Duke (2)
  • Early Action (34)
  • Early Decision (37)
  • Enrichment (13)
  • Environmental Science (1)
  • Essays (27)
  • Europe (6)
  • Exercise Science (1)
  • Exeter (1)
  • Extracurricular Activities (24)
  • Feature (2)
  • Financial Aid (22)
  • First Person (9)
  • France (1)
  • FSU (1)
  • Gap Programs (2)
  • GED (1)
  • Georgetown (4)
  • Germany (2)
  • Gifts (3)
  • GPA (4)
  • Hamilton (1)
  • Harvard (6)
  • High School (21)
  • Higher National Diplomas (1)
  • HiSET (1)
  • IB (4)
  • IEC (1)
  • IELTS (1)
  • Indiana (3)
  • International (6)
  • Internships (5)
  • Interviews (10)
  • Iowa (1)
  • Italy (2)
  • Ivy League (19)
  • JHU (2)
  • LD (1)
  • Majors (11)
  • MIT (4)
  • Naviance (2)
  • NCAA (3)
  • New Mexico State University (1)
  • News (59)
  • Northwestern (3)
  • Notification News (2)
  • Notre Dame (3)
  • NYU (1)
  • Of Note (5)
  • Ohio State (1)
  • Open Admission (2)
  • Parents (7)
  • Penn (6)
  • Pitt (2)
  • Popular Posts (16)
  • Princeton (4)
  • Priority (2)
  • Professor of the Month (1)
  • PSU (3)
  • Public Universities (8)
  • Purdue (1)
  • Rankings (8)
  • Reader Questions (10)
  • Recommendations (8)
  • Regular (20)
  • Research (4)
  • Resume (16)
  • Rice (3)
  • ROI (2)
  • Rolling (5)
  • Santa Clara University (1)
  • Sewanee (1)
  • SMU (1)
  • South America (2)
  • Southwestern (TX) (1)
  • Spotlight Series (1)
  • St. Edward's University (1)
  • St. John's College (1)
  • Standardized Tests (30)
  • Stanford (3)
  • Summer (17)
  • Swarthmore (1)
  • TASC (1)
  • Teacher Recommendations (8)
  • Temple (1)
  • Texas (3)
  • Texas A&M (1)
  • Ticker (21)
  • Trending Posts (27)
  • Trinity University (TX) (1)
  • Tufts (3)
  • Tuition (3)
  • Tulane (5)
  • UC Berkeley (6)
  • UC Davis (1)
  • UC Santa Barbara (1)
  • UCAS (4)
  • UCLA (7)
  • UDub (1)
  • UF (2)
  • UGA (3)
  • UIUC (3)
  • UMass (1)
  • UMD (4)
  • UNC (1)
  • United Kingdom (6)
  • Universal College Application (1)
  • University of Chicago (1)
  • University of Dallas (1)
  • University of New Mexico (1)
  • University of Rochester (1)
  • USC (2)
  • UT Austin (1)
  • UVA (6)
  • Vanderbilt (1)
  • Video Game Design (1)
  • Villanova (2)
  • Wash U (5)
  • Williams (1)
  • Wisconsin (1)
  • Yale (10)
  • ZeeMee (1)

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in